Together since 1984, this Japanese avant-pop outfit personified everything cool about indie music in the 1990s. Their satirical love of all things space-age and their impeccable visual taste provided the glossy sheen to an impressive musical ability. Writer/producer Konishi Yasuharu mastered a prodigious number of styles that appealed to the vinyl collectors in the audience--jazz-inflected pop, mod lounge, '70s disco, '60s soul, crisp garage-punk--and singer Nomiya Maki fronted the band with cutesy-chic aplomb. The band broke up in 2001, leaving as its legacy several acclaimed U.S. releases on Matador Records, even more international releases, and the kitschy blueprint of J-pop used by many acts to this day.